Psalm 128 · a question people ask
Does Psalm 128 mean that everyone who fears the LORD will have a wife and children? What about someone who doesn't?
The psalm opens wide: "Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways" (128:1). Then it speaks to one person, you, and pictures one home: "You will eat the labor of your hands" (128:2), and "Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive shoots around your table" (128:3). It sums up, "Behold, this is how the man who fears the LORD is blessed" (128:4). The psalm doesn't speak of anyone who fears the LORD without a wife or children, and it doesn't say that such a person is outside the blessing of 128:1. Other Scripture speaks of those without sons and daughters. Isaiah 56 has, "Do not let the eunuch say" (Isaiah 56:3), and gives his words, "Behold, I am a dry tree" (Isaiah 56:3). Then the LORD speaks of "the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant" (Isaiah 56:4): "I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters" (Isaiah 56:5). The psalm before this one says, "Behold, children are a heritage of the LORD" (Psalm 127:3). These notes set the verses side by side, and don't make Psalm 128's picture a promise of any one home, or a measure of anyone's.
The verses
“A Song of Ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways. For you will eat the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will be well with you. Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive shoots around your table. Behold, this is how the man who fears the LORD is blessed.”
“Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD speak, saying, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For the LORD says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant, I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.”
“Behold, children are a heritage of the LORD. The fruit of the womb is his reward.”